ShopTalk: Pattern on Mass Ave

Pattern magazine’s content comes to life in a new store.

There’s a good reason the dressing rooms at the Pattern Store are on wheels: Rolling them aside clears the floor for events and runway shows, an important feature that makes the space fit Pattern’s triple role as a networking group for Indy’s fledging fashion scene, a magazine publisher, and now a retail shop.

It’s the first boutique to concentrate on the local design industry, which includes both established labels (such as No Bad Ideas, a hat brand sold in Lids stores nationwide) and promising up-and-comers (we love Leather/Feather/Stone’s luxe envelope clutches with torn-edge flaps). In addition to boosting sales for area designers, the store builds Pattern’s credibility as the group campaigns for a manufacturing center to help Indy talent get started.

“People have sent money and patterns overseas, and stuff just vanishes,” says executive director Polina Osherov. “We’re having a lot of conversations with the city about a cut-and-sew facility. People are starting to buy into the idea that fashion could exist here.”